Hypatia, born c. 350 or 370; died 415 was the mathematician, astronomer and philosopher and the only daughter of the mathematician Theon of Alexandria (c. 335–c. 405). She was educated in Athens. Around 400, she became head of the Neoplatonist School in Alexandria, where she imparted the knowledge of Plato and Aristotle to students, including pagans, Christians, and foreigners. Hypatia contributed in many ways to math, with one of her contributions being that she edited the work on The Conics of Apollonius. This was the concept that developed ideas of parabolas, hyperbolas and ellipses. With her contribution in this book, Hypatia made the concepts easier for people to understand, thus enabling the work survive through many centuries.

Although contemporary fifth-century sources identify Hypatia of Alexandria as a practitioner and teacher of the philosophy of Plato and Plotinus, two hundred years later, the seventh-century Egyptian Coptic bishop John of Nikiû identified her as a Hellenistic pagan and that "she was devoted at all times to magic, astrolabes and instruments of music, and she beguiled many people through her Satanic wiles". However, not all Christians were as hostile towards her: some Christians even used Hypatia as symbolic of Virtue. The contemporary Christian historian Socrates of Constantinople described her in his Ecclesiastical History:"There was a woman at Alexandria named Hypatia, daughter of the philosopher Theon, who made such attainments in literature and science, as to far surpass all the philosophers of her own time. Having succeeded to the school of Plato and Plotinus, she explained the principles of philosophy to her auditors, many of whom came from a distance to receive her instructions. On account of the self-possession and ease of manner which she had acquired in consequence of the cultivation of her mind, she not infrequently appeared in public in the presence of the magistrates. Neither did she feel abashed in going to an assembly of men. For all men on account of her extraordinary dignity and virtue admired her the more."

Hypatia corresponded with former pupil Synesius, who was tutored by her in the philosophical school of Platonism and later became bishop of Ptolemais (now in eastern Libya) in 410, an exponent of Trinitarianism. Together with the references by the pagan philosopher Damascius, these are the extant records left by Hypatia's pupils at the Platonist school of Alexandria.Alexandria had long been the city where Christians, Jews, pagans and any other treated equally. This men at the time was the city became increasingly Christian. That put Hypatia in the very dangerous position, because she was well pagan, and advocated science and rational thinking. She refused to convert to Christianity. Hypatia got a terrible and brutal death. One day in March 415 Nutrient Hypatia was going home, she was attacked by a mob of fanatical Christians, as stripped her naked and dragged her to the church Caesarium, where she were skinned, dismembered and burnt up. Some have described it as Hypatia were the first martyr of Christian brutality. Her brutal death marks the end of classical antiquity. It also marked the beginning of the Christianity conquest and its supremacy and intolenrace of other religions & cultures. Most of everything Hypatia wrote has been destroyed, but thanks to some extant letters, and that other writers in the time referred to her various works, the realization of her importance survived. Tools: Promarker, shinhan marker, graph marker, copic, micronSources and references: faithljustice.wordpress.com/20…math.coe.uga.edu/tme/issues/v0…en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatiawww.reference.com/math/did-hyp…www.math.wichita.edu/history/w…www.patheos.com/blogs/davearms…wp.production.patheos.com/blog…www.kvinnofronten.nu/Formodrar…www.suppressedhistories.net/se…www.perankhgroup.com/hypatia.h…en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_…

I really like this! It captures the essence of the Library at Alexandria, and the intelligence of this great mathematician and astronomer - not just another pretty face, but an intellectual who sought wisdom.

yeah it's really a shame that people didn't see it until lately, then again a group of people either romantizing her or demonizing, its like there's no middle between. Anyways, once I have more time, I'll do some extra research and eventually re-writing her lifestory. After all I was a bit in rush.

Very nice work. I really like the composition of the piece and the speech bubble with the geometrical shapes. I take it that's a younger Hypatia, seeing how by the time of her death she was 45 to 60 years old. Anyway, well done.

Some things I think I should point out: Hypatia was not known an active pagan : she didn't visit the temples nor did she express any dissaproval to pagan temples converted to Christian churches. She in fact was on good terms with many Christians of her time and sheltered her Christian students (two of whom became bishops) who in turn retained friendly relations with her. John of Nikiu's account is pure libel.

Also to say that Jews, pagans and Christians lived in harmony until the later became the majority and started killing and supresing everyone is not true. Alexandria at the time was infamour for daily conflicts between all the aforementioned groups. Christians, pagans and Jews were ambushing, harassing and killing each other. It was an often occurance.

Finally there are no contemporary accounts that mention anything about Hypatia being offered and refusing to convert. She was lynched by a mob of fanatics who thought that seeing how she passed a lot of time with the Christian Orestis, she had to be behind his rift with the also Christian Cyril of Alexandria. Her contemporary Christian Chroniclers (even the most fervant) were among the first to condemn her death. Thete is 0 evidence that she was killed or harassed for her religious beliefs, teachings or way of life.

There are a lot of fictionalised accounts of her life posing as historical sources, most tracing their origins to the 18th century, when various groups struggling against the Power of the Catholic Church elevated her as a symbol of their ideological cause, in the proccess creating an image that had little to do with the actual Hypatia.

Thanks a lot for giving the constructive thoughts, and I also wonder if you do have any valid sources, you would like to share of what you just wrote, kindly give it to me, so I can research more about her fate and eventually correcting the text.

P.S. About the image, I was a bit late realising that she was in the middle age around when she were lynched, when drawing, so I'll also put a note about it.

Most certainly, if you are willing to endure some walls of text from my part:First of all the primary sources of the story: There are very few contemporary sources that recount the story of Hypatia:

Historia Ecclesiastica of the Christian Socrates Scholasticus (whom you quote)Church History of the also Christian Philostorgius

And that's it. There is also the letters of her student Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemais but he appears to have died unaware of her violent death. There are also some others that were written centuries later and that rely on the aforementioned accounts. Those are:

The Chronicle of John of Nikiu (7th century): more on him laterChronography by John Malalas (5th to 6th century) very briefly mentions that "The Alexandries murdered Hypatia"The Life of Isidorus by the pagan Damascius (5th-6th century)And the Suda Dictionary (10th century) which draws from Damascius' work

Of the above, only Socrates is considered reliable by the Historians as he lived at the same time, he was well informed of what was going on in the Empire, describes the events with the most detail and based his account on eye witnesses.

"The Church Historian Socrates is the most reliable source of the events" Dzielska Maria, Hypatia of Alexandria

"What Philostorgius has to say about Hypatia's death can be discounted. His bald statement that she was lynched by the orthodox party (υπό των το ομοούσιον πρεσβευόντων/ by those who stand for the Homoousion) can be regarded as the malevolence of an Arian who hated Alexandria, home of the great enemy Athanasius. And in this matter the Suda seems as unreliable as Philostorgius." J. M. Rist, Hypatia, Vol. 19, No. 3.

"For the Historian, much more convincing than Damascius is Socrates"Chuvin Pierre, The Last Pagans. A Chronicle of Paganism's Defeat

On my points specificallyHypatia was not known an active pagan: While her father developed an interest in "witchcraft" she abstained from it and she seemed to practice a form of Philosophic, Platonic theism. She led her favorite students in contemplative prayer and asked each questions about the Divine according to each's own faith (Dzielska Maria)

John of Nikiu's account: The guy was born centuries after Hypatia's time in the 7th century. He pretty much copies Socrates' account but actually expresses approval of her death (being the first to do so). He was removed from his offices for some moral offense . The fact that he accuses Hypatia of witchcraft is evidence of his bias and unreliability.

That Christians, pagans and Jews were fighting each other constantly in Alexandria: I don't really think I need to mention any source here, but Socrates Scholasticus should do: He recounts for instance that once, when tensions between the 3 groups were high dew to an edict forbiding mimes and other public events (when quarrels and violence would almost always happened), some Jews of the City run through the streets claiming that the Church of Alexander was on fire. When Christians responded to what they were led to believe was the burning down of their church, the Jews killed them by using rings to recognize one another in the dark and killing everyone else in sight. When the morning came, the Christians retaliated and banished them from Alexandria. There are other instances recorded as well.

That no contemporary accounts that mention anything about Hypatia being offered and refusing to convert and that her death was political in nature: Well it's true. They don't. Not a single source claims this: nor Socrates, nor Damascius nor anyone. Which brings us to my last point:

That her life has been greatly romanticized during the 18-19th century: The myth that Hypatia was offered and refused to convert actually comes from Literature not History: In a short dramatic play written by Leconte de Lisle called "Cyril and Hypatia" in which Cyril (who was not present at Hypatia's death nor does any primary source accuse him for ordering her death) tries to convince her to convert to save her life, but she refuses. In Maurice Barres' novel "La vierge assassinee" she is presented teaching at Serrapeum until a mob of Christians arrive to lynch her at which point the two pagan protagonists try to convince her to leave, but she refuses.

Even before the 19th century when the legend of Hypatia as a youthful, pagan nymph who was martyred for her teachings and beliefs was born there was already some distortion in the 18th century: During this time the Protestant and later Deist Irish thinker John Toland (1670-1722) wrote his book titled: "Hypatia, or the history of a most beautiful, most virtuous, most learned, and every-way accomplished Lady, who was torn to pieces by the Clergy of Alexandries, to gratify the pride, emulation, and cruelty of their Archbishop, commonly but undeservedly styled, St. Cyril" (phew!) The protestants, who had suffered under Papal misuse of Power, managed to revise quite a few lesser known aspects of Late Ancient and Medieval history, that ended up being influenced by their anti-Catholic Church worldview (and no I am not Catholic. I have some beef with them over the 4th Crusade and the Latinokratia but the Truth must be spoken).

That's about it. If you had the patience to read it all then I honestly thank you. Do not feel obliged to take my word for it but feel free to check these sources.

It has been taking a almost a year to work with the background & frankly, finding any reference based on ancient Alexandria library was extremely difficult, but also the drawing library background was a nightmare. I kind of re-draw the background over & over, until I finally figured out how to draw the scrolls in different angles. But was it worth it? Totally worth it!